Lycianthes barbatula [Standl. & Steyerm. ]

Lycianthes barbatula

Citation author:

Standl. & Steyerm.

Citation:

Publ. Field Mus. Nat. Hist., Bot. Ser. 23(5): 228 1947.

Type:

Guatemala. Suchitepéquez: Volcán Santa Clara, between Finca El Naranjo and upper slopes, 1250–2650 m, 23 May 1942, J.A. Steyermark 46653 (holotype: F [0072901F, acc.# 1148517]; isotypes: NY [00138703], US [00624009]).

Last edited by:

Jennifer Poore

Written by:

Ellen Dean

Habit:

Shrub, erect to scandent (sometimes described as a vine), 3–5 m tall. Stems green when young, not compressed upon drying, ribbed to angled when dried, becoming woody with age, glabrous to sparsely pubescent with small white, uniseriate, multicellular, simple, curved, eglandular, appressed-ascending trichomes 0.1–0.5 mm long.

Sympodial structure:

Upper sympodial branching points mono- or dichasial. Upper sympodial stem units 1–8 cm long, 1–3 mm in diameter, difoliate, the leaves geminate or sometimes appearing unifoliate due to the small geminate leaf abscissing early or not developing.

Leaves:

Leaves simple, usually paired and unequal in size, the larger ones with blades 4–15 x 1.5–6.5 cm, the smaller ones with blades 1–9 x 0.7–4 cm, the geminate leaf pairs usually similar in shape, the blades narrowly ovate to elliptic or obovate, thick chartaceous, glabrous except for tufts of trichomes located in the axils along the midvein of the abaxial side, trichomes like those of the stems but to 1 mm long; major veins 5–10 on each side of midvein; base cuneate to attenuate, sometimes oblique; margin entire, usually undulate; apex acute to acuminate; petioles absent or 0.2–2 cm long.

Inflorescences:

Flowers solitary or in groups of 2–8, axillary, the axes glabrous to sparsely pubescent with appressed–ascending trichomes to 0.25 mm long; peduncles absent; pedicels 20–30 mm long and arching in flower, to 40 mm long and spreading to deflexed in fruit.

Flowers:

Flowers 5-merous, all perfect, oriented horizontally to nodding. Calyx 1.5–2.5 mm long, 3–4 mm in diameter, obconic to campanulate, sparsely pubescent with curling trichomes 0.1–0.5 mm long, especially at the tips of the appendages, the margin truncate, with 10 erect to spreading appendages 0.5–2 mm long emerging 0.5 mm below rim; fruiting calyx usually enlarged, widely campanulate to bowl–shaped, 3–4 mm long, 5–8 mm in diameter, sometimes splitting, the appendages 2.5–4 mm long, spreading. Corolla 0.7–2 cm long, campanulate to rotate in orientation, entire to very slightly stellate in outline, divided 0–1/5 of the way to the base, with abundant interpetalar tissue, adaxially white with lavender ring near stamen insertion, abaxial color unknown, glabrous. Stamens equal or nearly so, filaments 2–2.5 mm long, glabrous; anthers 2.5–3 mm long, elliptic, free of one another, brownish-yellow, glabrous, poricidal at the tips, pores large, round, dehiscing distally, not opening into longitudinal slits. Ovary glabrous; style 6–7 mm, linear, straight, glabrous; stigma capitate to oblong, decurrent down two sides.

Fruits:

Fruit a berry, 10–12 mm long, 10–12 mm in diameter, globose to ovoid, changing from green to white as it matures, possibly remaining white or changing blue-grey to purple at maturity, glabrous, lacking sclerotic granules.

Seeds:

Seeds ca. 20 per fruit, 3–3.5 mm x 2–2.5 mm, flattened, triangular to depressed ovate, tan to orange-brown, with minute serpentine pattern on surface.

Chromosome number:

Not known.

Distribution:

Lycianthes barbatula occurs in Mexico (state of Oaxaca, probably also Chiapas) and Guatemala (departments of Chimaltenango, Quezaltenango, and Suchitepequez) in subdeciduous forest, cloud forest, and near coffee plantations at 920–1600 m in elevation. [note type specimen has a high elevational range of 2650 m, but the specimen may not have been collected that high]. Our knowledge of the distribution and ecology of this species is incomplete due to the paucity of specimens in herbaria.

Phenology:

Flowering specimens have been collected in May and June. Specimens with mature fruits have been collected in September and January. Immature fruits have been collected in January. The phenological record is incomplete due to the paucity of specimen of this species. The corollas on the specimens of this species are often open; this indicates that the corollas are open for a substantial amount of time each day.

Commentary:

Lycianthes barbatula is related to L. manantlanensis Aa.Rodr. & O.Vargas and L. orogenes Standl. & Steyerm. with which it shares relatively thick leaves (thick chartaceous to coriaceous), relatively glabrous foliage, long, delicate, arching pedicels, white corollas, and equal to nearly equal stamens with yellow and brown anthers. Lycianthes barbatula differs from the other two species in having longer calyx appendages and tufts of trichomes in the vein axils along the midvein of the abaxial side of the leaf blade. The fruit color of L. barbatula has been recorded on several specimen labels as being white, and this is also the color given in Gentry & Standley (1974), but there is uncertainty as to whether this is the final color at maturity or a transitional color, as other specimens mention blue-grey or blue-purple fruits.

References:

Dean, E., J. Poore, M. A. Anguiano-Constante, M. H. Nee, T. Starbuck, A. Rodrigues, and M. Conner. 2020. The genus Lycianthes (Solanaceae, Capsiceae) in Mexico and Guatemala. PhytoKeys 168: 1–333.

Gentry, J. L. Jr. and P. C. Standley. 1974. Flora of Guatemala. Fieldiana Botany 24 (part 10) no. 1–2. Chicago, Illinois: Field Museum of Natural History.

IUCN [Standards, Petitions Subcommittee] (2019) Guidelines for using the IUCN red list categories and criteria. version 12. Prepared by the Standards and Petitions Subcommittee in February 2019. http://jr.iucnredlist.org/documents/redlistGuidelines [accessed December 10, 2019]

Common names and uses:

Not known.

Conservation status:

Lycianthes barbatula is a rarely collected species of Mexico and Guatemala, represented by only 11 collections, only one of which is from a protected area (Cuenca del Lago Atitlán, Guatemala). The EOO is 20,500.215 km2, and the AOO is 28 km2. Following the IUCN (2019) criteria, the preliminary assessment category is Endangered (EN).

Solanaceae Source

A global taxonomic resource for the nightshade family

Solanaceae

Lycianthes barbatula Standl. & Steyerm.

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